Super Mega Dolphin Pod Spanned 35 Square Miles
A “super mega dolphin pod” reported upon by The Inquisitr recently sounds sort of like how a valley girl describing an unusually large pod of dolphins — until you learn how truly vast the massive sighting was.
The super mega dolphin pod surprised passengers of a boat off the coast of California Thursday, when the group was spotted in the waters of the Bay Area. Capt. Joe Dutra of Hornblower Cruises said that while he’d seen large swarms of the creatures before, nothing had ever approached the density of the super mega dolphin pod.
“They were coming from all directions … You could see them as far as they eye can see. I’ve seen a lot of stuff out here… But this is the biggest [pod] I’ve ever seen, ever.”
So how big exactly was the super mega dolphin pod, the double rainbow of whale watching? By Dutra’s estimation, an astonishing 7 miles long and 5 miles wide. Of just dolphins.
Not super mega dolphin pods can seem like a heck of a lot of dolphins — so how many dolphins are estimated to have been on the scene for Thursday’s dolphinpalooza?
100,000. 100,000 of the beasts are believed to have comprised the super mega dolphin pod. And marine mammal expert Sarah Wilkin said that a feeding frenzy could have sparked the massive gathering of dolphins, so despite the large number, it’s not inconceivable:
“They’re attracted to kind of the same thing, they might wind up in the same place … They’re definitely social animals, they stick together in small groups. But sometimes, the schools come together.”
Below is a clip of the super mega dolphin pod in action last week.
